D&D For Kids
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Big applause for Wizards, who have released, for free, a version of D&D for kids entitled Monster Slayers: The Heroes of Hesiod. Apparently, it’s based on a new book D&D is coming out with.
"Aw, that Bullette is just so friggin' adorable!"
What I really like is both the simple art, as well as the simple rules. The game is designed for children as young as six to be able to play. Great!
It comes with five pregenerated characters, as well as four different monsters: a bullette, a swarm of feral pixie fairies, a dragon, and a beholder.
Hit points are very low, just like 3e, and there aren’t any encounter and daily powers, so it’s very akin to 3e.
I would definitely like to see a character creator, which would be very easy to do with such simple rules. All you’d have to do is have some rules for race, some rules for class, and mix and match to put the two together.
You should definitely check it out. The pdf can be found here.
This is the 3rd blog I’ve read about this new free module for kids and for one, I couldn’t be more disappointed. From what I could see, the adventure consists of one room where the PCs kill a bunch of monsters. Ummm, where is the role playing? Where is the imagination?
Also, how am I supposed to explain to my 6-year-old daughter that killing a little pixie is fun? It definitely doesn’t look like it’s geared for girls.
FWIW, I think it is horrible. Maybe I’m the only one.
.-= Paul Kasper´s last blog ..RPG Tech #1: Online Whiteboard (Update) =-.
I think you’ll find that kids usually bring their own imaginations to the table, rather then needing a book to tell them that they should be imagining things.
There’s certainly a place for RPGs where the players don’t kill anything, but D&D isn’t that RPG and never has been.
@Pangalin. True about kid’s imagination, but that doesn’t change the fact that the module doesn’t do ANYTHING to introduce one of the fundamentals of a role playing game…an actual story.
And, I wasn’t saying that killing couldn’t take place, but it doesn’t need to be the core part of the story. But, I guess that’s what D&D has become…an paper-based MMO.
@Paul
I agree– D&D for kids shouldn’t be just simplified violence. Like me, my son can figure that out on his own.
Let me recommend “The Princes’ Kingdom” RPG
http://dndstuffedanimals.blogspot.com/2009/10/game-report-princes-kingdom.html
I wish that there were adventures available for The Princes’ Kingdom but as Pangalin noted, kids have strong imaginations, so with just a few prompts, your players will imagine everything for you.
The game is designed to be ran by an adult and played by children. They give you the basics but assume that you already know your way around the game. Any person who had ran or played any sort of dungeons and dragons game should know enough to ad-hoc any “rules” not covered or descriptions of the adventure for flavor. Keep in mind that these are kids we are talking about here, not 40 year old gamers. They aren’t going to be interested in a long term epic campaign or any real role playing. This game is for 6 year old’s, they want to pretend they are playing daddy or mommy’s game for realz and hit things. So just make it up as you go, they will never know the difference and they will pick up the skills offered in role playing games along the way (depending on how much you introduce into their game).
As for story.. Have you played Dungeons and Dragons before? I’m sure anyone who has ran or played a game before has enough of an imagination to add or even make up their own simple story.
Here look, I just did this in my head in a few moments: The mean ol’ dragon has stolen the princesses magic crown and took it back to his home in the mountains. The poor princess asks the brave young adventurers to get her crown back from the dragon because stealing is bad and she needs it for the grand ball.
Ok so I just made up a simple story a 6 year old will be able to understand (maybe too simple), I use a moral in this case to teach the difference between right and wrong and introduce some problem solving in the cave with perhaps a simple math puzzle and bam. A 15-30 min game that they will enjoy using what this free pdf offered.